I don't know about you, but I love hearing about how celebrities started out in Hollywood. Especially when they weren't offered a role because their second cousin's mailman knew the guy who wrangled the plants on a hit TV show. Also when they weren't discovered on YouTube. Melissa McCarthy was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to tell just the story I wanted to hear!

The video starts with your basic interview question about getting into the acting business. Melissa reveals that she had originally wanted to get into the fashion industry, and while doing costume design/stand-up in New York, she thought of the acting world: “I don't know if I can take the actors.” She then reveals that she eventually became the kind of actor she said she wouldn't be, saying things like, “My character's important, because he only eats grain.” I like this story because haven't we all been there, saying I'm not gonna be that actor, or that journalist, or that penguin keeper at the zoo. And then you become that penguin keeper at the zoo. Every time.

But my favorite story Melissa tells is about what her life was like when she first moved to Los Angeles to live with her friend Jose in his tiny studio apartment. As you do when you're first starting out in a new town, they decided to put a full size bed in the kitchen. And of course she and Jose, who were not a couple, slept in it together. And when her sister came to visit one time, it was three to the bed, which made the sister highly uncomfortable. Can't imagine why.

If I ever decide to move to Hollywood and make my dreams come true (haven't decided what the dreams are yet, but Hollywood'll make it happen), I'll remember Melissa McCarthy's humble beginnings in Tinseltown and feel better about myself if I have to sleep on a pile of cats in my bathtub or something, which will probably happen eventually whether I move to Hollywood or not.

This probably won't encourage me to see her new movie Identity Thief, unfortunately. I'd watch a movie about her kitchen bedroom any day, however.

The stories are much better when you hear the funny way Melissa tells them, so watch the video below.